McGregor: Alvarez is a bum, begging on his knees

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor appeared recently on Ariel Hewani’s The MMA Hour for a wide ranging discussion. He expressed disdain for the interim featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar at UFC 200.

“That’s my division,” said McGregor, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “My belt. And these [guys] have been talking all kinds of stuff, so I just wanted to stand up and let them know, I’m here. Let me see what the f*** yous have. Let me see what both of you have. And at the end of the fight, I’m seeing.

“Frankie can’t touch him and Aldo’s dancing around, playing it safe, and I’m saying fight. F***ing fight. You want this? You want this fight again? Take it. Win it. You can’t play it safe like that. Where’s my excitement in that? You’re running away and you’re just out-slapping him and that’s it. I want to see you come and try and get that fight and really want that fight. I didn’t see that. I saw the same thing I’ve been seeing. I saw that if we signed to fight again, he’s gone running again. That’s what I saw. So I just stood up like, I’m here, let’s see what the f*** the two of yous have.”

There is some question as to whether McGregor, who fights lightweight Nate Diaz at welterweight on Saturday, will ever return to featherweight.

“It ain’t an easy cut, but I have a nutritionist [George Lockhart] now onboard, and that Aldo cut was the best cut I ever had,” said McGregor. “The IV was banned, we weren’t allowed to use an IV to rehydrate. I made championship weight and I rehydrated fully. I was brand new. So the weight is there for me to make. Look, it’s got to be right. I’ve got to be intrigued by it. I can’t be intrigued by a guy who’s been running, and still, I still see a runner in my eyes when I look at Jose.

“I still see a guy who I’ll go through the whole s*** again and then nine days out, ‘hey Conor, we’ve got a middleweight here, do you want to fight a middleweight?’ Okay, then f*** I’ll fight a middleweight. It’s got to appeal to me, so it’s got to be right. Like I said, I’ve got this guy [Diaz] to take care of, but I’m still the featherweight world champion, and after this fight we’ll sit down and I’m sure they’ll attempt to make it right, make it sweet for me.”

There are a lot of sweet fights for McGregor, including a title fight vs. lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who is eager for the scrap.

“Right now there’s a new champion, he’s a bum as well,” said McGregor. “He’s a novice. He’s a novice on his feet, swinging shots, overhands. He just is a wrestler with an overhand as well. They’re novices where I come from and that’s the truth of it, so we’ll see about him. We’ll see.

“Like I said, there’s a lot of options. They’re all begging for it. They’re all begging in their own unique way, but make no mistake, it’s begging. They are all begging for this. They’re all begging for what Nate got. They look at Nate, who went from 20-and-20 to now he’s talking big money, so they’re all on their hands and knees begging for this. So like I said, I’ll have this fight, I’ll sit down with Mr. White and the new owners … and then we’ll figure it out from there.”

Conor McGregor fights Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 202, on Saturday, August 20, 2016 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.